Composite heel



Aug. 21, 192s. 1,681,211

D. w. BUNKER conosm: HEEL Ffiled llaljch l2, 1926 Figli; l

Patented Aug. 21, 192s.

UNITED STATES '1,681,217 PATENT oFFlcE.

S W. BUNKER, OF QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITEDCSHQE MAGHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSO JERSEY.

N, NEW JERSEY, A. CORPORATION` OF NEW.

' 4 Application filed March 12, 1926. Serial No. 84,201.

This invention relates to shoe heels of the so-called 4composite type,and is herein illustrated as embodied in a heel comprising a basesection which, broadly' considered, is scoop shaped and a molded topsection, for exam le of rubber, having a rigid,'substantially at nailanchoring insert.

- As heretofore manufactured, a heel base of the scoop shaped type hasbeen so molded as to impart to its attaching face 'a concave shape suchas to fit approximately the heel seat of the shoe to which the base wasto be attached. The outer face of the base was correspondingly convex,and difiiculties aroseif it were dell sired to employ such a base incombination witha molded top section having a Hat nail anchoring insertVsuch, for example, as a known type of rubber heel which has asubstantially flat insert of plywood at its attaching face. If it wereattempted to t the rubber heel to the base by gouging or scooping outmaterial from its att-aching face to form a cup or concavity toaccommodatethe convex face of the base the strength of the wooden insertwould be seriously impaired or destroyed. If it were attempted to fitthe heel toV the base by adding suiiicient rubber to the attaching faceof the heel to produce the necessary concavity the edge of the rubberheel would be undesirably thick and the composite heel would be toohigh; also the added rubbernecessary to produce the concavity to matchthe base convexity would extend inward from the edge across the nailingline and constitute Y a. yielding element between the wooden insert andthe base. Therewould thus be lost one of the conspicuous advantages ofthe type of rubber heel above referred to, which is that the nailanchoring insert maybe nailed down solidly, directly upon jthe heel basein relatin to which it will'not thereafter shift, with a resultantloosening of the nails, as doesa rubber heel of the washer t in whichthere is yielding bber between t e nail anchoring washers an the surfaceto which the heel is nailed.

It is. an object of the present invention to produce an improvedcomposite heel which will combine to a maximum degree the advantages ofboth the scoo type of base and A the flat. insert type of rub r heel orto section, and at the same time overcome the a vementioned dicullties.To this end I have so modified`both the base section and the top sectionthat I am enabled to combine themin a composite heel which may bereadily attached to a shoe with the commercial heeling machinery alreadyin use in shoe factories and which, w en so attached, is solid andAsecure and will give excellent service when the shoe is` worn. -Afurther object is to produce a v new and` improved heel base which canbe manufactured at low cost.

In the illustrated embodiment of the in-A venti'on the base section oft-he heel is com- 65 posed of lifts built up to form an individual blankof the maximum thickness required and molded to a generallyconcave-convex or scoop shape. The attaching face ofthe blank is,

.concave and its shape 1s such as to correspond "I0 approximately tothat of the heel seat of the shoe to which the heel is to `be attached.In. the molding operation, in which Vthisl sha e is imparted to theattaching face of the bla the outer face of the blank becomescorrespondinglyv convex. Suiiicient material is re- Y moved from thecentral portion of this convex face, by cutting or otherwise, to thinits central portion .and produce a substantially flat area comprising atleastva considerable part of the entire, area of the-face. VPreferably,but not necessarily, the fiat area lis some-y what less than ftheent-ireouter face of the .x base, leaving a molded marginal portionoutside of the fiat area which is beveled.

In one aspect of the invention, therefore,

-a novel method of making heel-bases is provided, which method comprisesbuildingup an individual heel blank to the maximum,n

ing such blank toconcavo-convex sha e, and thinning lthe `centralportion of the ank by removing from the convex face thereof suiiicientmaterial to produce a Substantially flat foundation for a top section'having a flat 95 center. y 4 A The molded top section of the-heel'fhas,at

.its attaching face, a rigid substantially at central portion of aproximately the Vsame size and shape as the at area on the base, sur-109.

rounded by a raised, inclined rim of molded material' shaped to iitapproximately the beveled margin of the base. y

y The base andtop sections above described are combined eitherbefore orat the time of at- 105 .tachment to the shoe, the cooperating at facesof the base and to` section insuring against the top section roc 'ngupon the base, and the molded rim around the margin of the top sectionfacilitating the ttingtogether of 1W thickness desired in the finishedbase, moldvS20' the two parts, aiding in securing correct registerbetween the two sections, and producing a tight and perfect jointbetween lthe top section and the base.

It will be found in practice that the amount of material which it isnecesary to remove from the convex face of the base is'ver small,resulting in a waste of material whic 1 is practically negligible, andthe removal of this material may be cheaply and rapidly accomplished. Agood practical embodiment of the 1nvention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of theimproved heel base;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in perspective and partly in cross section of aIcushion heel top section adapted to be combined with the base;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of the base and the top sectionarranged in assembled relation but before the application 'of theattaching pressure;

Y Fig. 5'is a cross sectional view of the heel seat end of a shoe withthe heel attached thereto.

In the drawings, 10 indicates a two-lift heel base having a generally-scoop shaped concave attaching face 12 formed to fit approximately theheel seat of a shoe to which the heel is to be attached. While two liftsare shown, it should be understood that it is within the scope of theinvention to use either more or less than two lifts, asfmay be requiredto produce, in combination with the rubber heel to bel used, a compositeheel of the height desired. v

The base 10, as shown, has, on its outer face a substantially flat area14 comprising a considerable part of the entire area of said face.Surrounding the flat area 14 is a beveled marginal portion 16 which isillustrated ashavin a lcurvature approximately the same as t at ofthe-corresponding portion of the attaching face 12, although this may bemodiied within the limits within which it is practicable to roduce theface 16 by compression or mo ding. Y

The improved heel base 10 may be economically produced byassemblingjrland securing together the retuired number ozlifts toproduce an indiyi thickness vdesired in the finished base, mold` ing thevfiat blank thus produced to a substantially rigid concavo convex scoopshape in a. heel compressorand then removing from the outer face of themolded blank by cutting orotherwise, suicient material to thin y thecentral portion of the blank and produce the substantiallyl flat surface14. The size -of the flat surface 14 will be determined b vthe degree ofconvexity of the molded bl ual blank 'of the maximum.

tion"`16, as shown 1n the drawings. In Fig. 3

the dotted line 18 shows the contour of the l molded blank before thematerial is removed from its outer face to produce the central, flatarea. In making the heel base in the manner described there is nonecessity for using a rand or for performing any gouging operation uponthe attaching face of the blank. The flat area 14 may be produced by asimple cutting operation with a straight knife, and such a blank may bemanufactured at a minimum cost for labor and material.

The top section 20 ot' the heel is shown as having a body portion 22 ofrubber or equivalent eushion material and a fiat stifening, `nailanchoring insert or core 24 which, in the present instance, is made ofnon-moldable plywood. The rubber of a heel of this type is deformable toa certainextent without materially affecting the shape of the woodencore, the exposed face of 'whiclr is substantially'flat. The heelsection 2O conse uently has, at its attaching face, a substantia ly fiatcentral portion of approximately the same size and shape as the fiatarea 14 on the base 10. The flat, central portion of the attaching faceof the rubber heel is surrounded by a raised, inclined rim 26 of rubbershaped to fit approximately the beveled margin 16 ofthe base butinclined somewhat more than the beveled margin 16 for the purpose ofprotducing a tight edge joint between the two sections of the heel whenthey are pressed tightly together. The thin edge of the rim 26 overlapssomewhat the edge of the core but, referabl does not extend inward beyonthe nailing line. The heel may,.there fore, be nailed down solidly withthe core in firm contact-with the base, vand there will be a thin,narrow sealing rim of rubber which.

will be pressed tightly between the base and the margin of the woodencore 24, as shown in Fig. 5; The marginal portion of thatread face ofthe heel section 2O is also curved slightly, as indicated at 28, so thatthe said tread face shall be deformed to atness when .the heel isattached. n.

' In Fig. 5, 30 and 32 indicate respectively .the outer sole and insoleof a shoe to which the composite heel of the present invention isattached by nails 34 driven through both sec-` tions of the heel,through both solesvof the shoe and having their points clinched in theinsole. The. heads of theattaching nails 34 are l'seated on or in thewooden core and usually will be concealed by the rubber of the heelbodyv 22c1osing overtheir headsnwhen' thev nail drivers are withdrawn.

Underthe pressure applied by the heel ati taching machine the at face ofthe wooden 65 and the amount of material removed. V In@core24wil1beseated firmly upon the flat area 14 of the base 10 Where itWill be held solidly by the attaching nails. The cooperatingconformation of the marginal portions of the base and the rubber heelinsures a tight edge joint Without the use of cement, and accurateplacing of the rubber heel upon the base is facilitated by the peculiarcontours of their engaging faces.

` Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired tobe secured by Letters Patent is z-f 1. A composite heel comprising abase section having a concave attaching face shaped to correspondapproximately to the heel seat of a shoe and an outer face the centralportion of which 'is substantially flat and the marginal portionoffvhich is beveled, and a molded top section including` a substantiallyflat insert of non-moldable material at the central portion of theattaching face of said top section and surrounded by a raised, inclined,molded rim, shaped to fit approximately the beveled marginal portion ofthe base.

2. A composite heel comprising a base section having a concave attachingface shaped to iit the heel seat of a shoe and an outer face the centralportion of which is substantially flatand the marginal portion ofWhichis beveled, anda molded top section including asubstantiallyilatnailanchoring insert at the central portion of theattaching face of said top section surrounded by a raised, in-

clined rim of molded material shaped to fit approximately the beveledmarginal portion of the base.

3. A composite 4heel comprising a scoopshaped leather base sectionhaving an outer face the central portion of Which'is substantially fiatand the marginal portion of which is beveled, combined with a rubber topsection having a Hat insert of plywood exposed throughout a substantialarea at the central portion of its attaching face and surrounded by araised, beveled rim of rubber, molded to t approximately the beveled,marginal por tion of the base.

4. A composite heel comprising an unyielding scoop-shaped base sectioncombined with a rubber top section having a rigid nail anchoring insertexposed throughout a substantial area at the central portion of itsattaching face and surrounded by a raised rim of rubber, the entireexposed area of said nail anchoring insert being complemental to andcontacting with the corresponding area of the outer face of thescoop-shaped base.

45. A heel base, comprising one or more lifts of leather, having aconcave attaching face molded to fit the heel seat of a shoe, and anouter face comprising a cut central portion which is substantially flatand a molded marginal p'ortion which is beveled.

6. The method of making heel bases which comprises building up anindividual blank to the maximum thickness desired in the finished base,molding said blank to concavo-convex shape, and thinning. the centralpor-tion of the v blank by removing from the convex face thereofsufficient material to produce a substantially flat foundation for a topsection having a fiat center.

7 The method of making heel bases Which comprises building up anindividual blank to the maximum thickness desired in the finished base,vmolding said blank to concavo-convex shape, and thinning the centralportion of the blank by removing from the convex face thereof suicientmaterial to produce a substantially at surface surrounded by an inclinedmargin upon which a. randed top section will fit.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

DARIUS W. BUNKER.

